


To Watch you Grow

by exholix



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon Compliant but i made a few changes, Established Relationship, Fluff, Getting Together, Light Angst, M/M, Memories, Mentions of past injury, it sounds sad but i swear its not they cute, mentions of past bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24384049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exholix/pseuds/exholix
Summary: “You remember when we were ten and I broke my ankle-““Kuro, how is this relevant?”The older one shushed him as he continued, “Anyways, remember when I broke my ankle and I wasn’t able to play for a good few months-”-----Or, Kenma gets a text from Atsumu saying that Kuroo is still in the gym practicing late at night, but instead of dragging him back to the dorm room they end up laying on the court reminiscing of the past.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 2
Kudos: 82
Collections: Kuroken





	To Watch you Grow

**Author's Note:**

> The beginning of this is pretty choppy but I swear the flow gets better after like, a quarter of it. Sorry if there is any grammar issues, there a reason im not majoring in english. Also, sorry if it's fast paced i don't see how i could slow this down anymore unless i added more memories which, going to be honest got lazy so it got stuck at 6k words

It’s not much of a surprise to know that Kuroo and Kenma stayed together even into university.

It’s also not much of a surprise to find out that the two of them share a dorm room. They fit well together, being able to work around and with each other.

It’s also not much of a surprise when Kenma gets a text from Atsumu saying that his crazed, bed-headed boyfriend was still in the gym late at night.

**Atsumu(10:53): go get your bf out of the gym, went to grab smthn that I forgot at practice and the rooster head was still practicing serves and refused to listen to me when I said get out**

This is not the first time Kenma has gotten one of these texts. When his first year of university started he had the pleasure to meet Atsumu all too soon when he pounded on his dorm room to pull Kuroo out of the gym. Kenma still doesn’t even know how Atsumu knew of himself, considering he was a first year too. Though ignoring his want to stay under his bed cover, playing a game that he rarely even gets to play now with the constant flow of busy university work, he had gotten up to drag Kuroo out of the gym

Ever since Kuroo joined starting lineup for the university in his second year he has been working harder then ever to get better. This includes staying at the gym after practice for an ungodly amount of time until someone pulls him out. Growing up with Kuroo, Kenma knew that Kuroo had always been good at taking care of himself, but with free reign in college the boy has seemed to of forgotten about his health one too many times for Kenma’s likings. Normally the day after the extensive practices Kuroo’s body would ache so bad that he would just spend the whole day whining about it in the dorm room.

Though, it’s also not every night that Kuroo stays at the gym after practice as sometimes he’d go hang out with Bokuto or Atsumu. Other times he’d just go straight to the dorm and complete an essay or on a rare time completely pass out as soon as he steps foot through the door. Kenma knows that Kuroo likes to shoot him a text to know what he is up to and when he’ll be back to the dorm, but Kenma doesn’t hold it against him when he forgets.

So, when Kuroo doesn’t come back to the dorm room when he gets off practice, Kenma just assumes that Kuroo is out with his team or that he’ll eventually get a text to pull him out of the gym. However, Kenma is slowly growing more disgruntled about it because he knows the latter option has slowly been growing into a reoccurring routine now. Usually people would mistake Kenma as someone who doesn’t really care, but he actually is very worried about Kuroo. 

As Kenma throws one of hoodies on, he can’t help but think that this is the third time in a week that he has gotten the same text from Atsumu. Last night, he even had gotten one from Akaashi because Bokuto was talking about how he himself was worried about Kuroo. Kenma was just hoping that it was just a short burst of motivation that drove Kuroo to practice more in reality he knows that’s not true. 

He steps out of the door and starts to head down the hallway when he sees Atsumu walking up the stairs about to slip into his own dorm room. Atsumu looks up and gives Kenma a knowing nod, which Kenma replicates. When Kenma started to actually talk to Atsumu, or how Atsumu actually kept bursting in his dorm room when it was unlocked to purposely try to annoy Kenma, he made note to keep him at good distance because of the others mischievous behavior. But as time has gone on, Kenma has learned that the other bleached hair boy is actually nice under all of that extra attitude.

When he slips outside, it’s only a short walk to the gym since they purposely picked a dorm close to it. Walking closer he can see gym lights peaking out of the outside air vents, meaning that Kuroo was still there and hasn’t magically decided to lock everything up and wasn’t currently walking to the dorm as of that moment. Peaking his head through the cracked door, he saw Kuroo mid-way through a serve that has gotten dangerously better since their high school days. When he heard the ball slam onto the other side of the court, he slid the door open more to walk in.

“Kenma!” Kuroo shouted after he turned his head over to see who walked in, smiling after he noticed who it was. Even though Kuroo was covered in sweat and his hair was sticking up in ways that he didn’t even know was possible without gel, and he did also look kind of a mess, but Kenma still found the site to be endearing.

“Alright, you had your extra practice now come back to the room.” Normally just a simple sentence was enough to convince Kuroo to clean everything up and head out with Kenma, but instead he watched as Kuroo turned around to head back to the outside of the court. 

“Just let me practice for a little bit more then I’ll head on out.” Kuroo slipped out as he went and grabbed another volleyball, hitting it against the ground a few times before stepping into place to do another serve. Kenma watched as the ball was thrown into the air and hit to the other side, making a loud banging sound when it met with the ground. “Do you think they’re getting better?” he asked as he looked at Kenma, eyebrow raised in question.

_So this is what this is about._

“Kuro, you already know the answer to that but putting continuous strain on your body is not going to help you as much as you’re hoping it is. It’s eleven, you’ve practiced enough today.” Kenma was trying to choose his words carefully so he wouldn’t make other upset or even worse, angry. Though, as long as he’d known Kuroo, he was actually pretty good at keeping his emotions together, but in times like this, where he was clearly overworking himself and his mind riled up, it was easy for him to crack.

“I need to get better.” It was a quiet but enough for Kenma to hear. Kuroo was staring at the ground and Kenma couldn’t tell if he was deep in thought or wasn’t thinking at all. It hurt him to see his ex-caption like this. Because even though Kuroo may seem like an overly smug person who liked to get under people’s skin, he was actually somebody that cared about others more than himself and was layered with his own insecurities.

Even though volleyball was one of Kuroo’s most favorite thing in the entire world, it was also the cause of his biggest insecurity.

“Kuro, you have already improved more in a short amount of time than I have ever seen anyone else. You’re already good, you don’t need to hurt yourself to prove that.” Kenma used to hate speaking a lot, and he still avoids it, but it doesn’t bother him as much as it used to. Over the years of talking with Kuroo and being the volleyball team captain his third year, he has definitely gotten better at it but it has only gotten a little bit easier. Though going through this previous times with Kuroo back in high school and even his first year of college, Kenma knew that it takes a lot of words to even remotely flip the others mindset around a little bit.

Kuroo opened his mouth to speak but instead closed it, swung his arms up with frustration, and sat on the gym floor. If it was any other context, Kenma would of allowed himself to laugh at the sight, but he could see the emotions running through his boyfriends face just by looking at him.

“This is happening a lot more often now isn’t it?”

Kenma nodded as he made his way over to sit right next to the athlete, ignoring how he was still covered in sweat. The other rested his head into his hands, trying to run his hand through the tangles in his hair.

He let out a small laugh, “I don’t know why it’s all of a sudden so bad. It wasn’t even like this back in high school.” Kenma kept quiet as he listened to the other talk, because he didn’t even have an answer to that himself. He knew that they were close and he knew everything there was to know about Kuroo, but he has never been a mind reader. “Maybe it’s the pressure. I am playing in a more intense setting now. Though the others don’t look like they’re starting a midlife crisis at the bright age of twenty.”

“I’m sure the others are going through their own thoughts too.” Kenma reassured, because while Kuroo may be putting the stress from his mind onto his body, he is sure that the others are dealing with it in their own ways. Just the other day he was watching one of the first year players repeatedly banging there head against the table. Sports are grueling, and after dealing with it for years right beside Kuroo, Kenma has learned everybody deals with them differently.

“I just want to be reliable-“

“You are.” Kuroo whips his focus to see golden eyes staring right back at him as his own widens. “I had played and known you for years and out of all of the things you are, reliable is at the top of that list.” Kuroo couldn’t help but let his eyes water, letting the words from his best friend and boyfriend hit him full blast. He let his head drop onto the others shoulder, the almost completely faded bleached hair tickling his face as he let out a snort as he remembered an old memory.

“You remember when we were ten and I broke my ankle-“

“Kuro, how is this relevant?”

The older one shushed him as he continued, “Anyways, remember when I broke my ankle and I wasn’t able to play for a good few months.”

\-----

Kenma was nine at the time. It had been two full years of knowing Kuroo and the two of them slowly becoming friends. Also the time where Kuroo introduced volleyball to him and he had dragged Kenma into one of his entry level practices. Kuroo and Kenma only really talked to each other, not really becoming friends with anybody else in the group. 

They were having a small practice, Kenma only having played a few months when it happened. The coach was trying to teach the kids basic form of hitting, and when it was Kuroo’s turn he jumped to tap the ball and landed wrong on his ankle. It happened in a matter of seconds from when Kuroo was in the air and then sitting on the floor, holding his ankle and shouting in pain. Kenma ran to Kuroo’s side as the older grabbed onto Kenma’s shirt pulling them closer as he tried not to look at his ankle.

That’s how they ended up in Kenma’s room playing video games, Kuroo laying on his bed with his foot in a cast resting on a pillow. Kenma had his full intention on game so he could clear the course, but when he looked over to see Kuroo’s character not even moving, he looked back to see Kuroo with tears starting to form in his eyes.

Kenma was at a complete lost of words. He had never been exposed to someone who was about to cry. He had no idea what to say and he also did not have a single clue on how to comfort somebody else.

“Uh… You okay?” He almost fell off his bed when Kuroo just burst into tears when he finished speaking. It was at this point where Kenma himself started panicking, and he was scared that he could say something that would run Kuroo away forever. Kenma’s face almost contorted into disgust when his own voice cracked even more than it normally did when he said, “What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to fall behind in volleyball. All the kids are going to get better than me and I’m going to be left into dust.” Kuroo whined as he laid back in his bed, trying to wipe his own tears away. In the two years of knowing Kuroo, not once has he ever seen the other cry. Nor has he ever seen the other looks weak. Kenma had always looked up to Kuroo, because he was the first person that Kenma met who was quiet like him, he gave off a sense of strength even at his age. Kenma looked up to that because he wished to of been as strong as Kuroo was all around at their age.

So, it shocked Kenma to see Kuroo look so defeated. He didn’t know that somebody strong could also have their own weaker moments. He had always been told that the strong were the strong and the weak were the weak. Kuroo was the one to show him that it doesn’t have to be like that.

Kenma also didn’t understand where Kuroo was coming from. He knew the other loved volleyball more than anything in the world, and it hard for Kenma to understand why when he himself has never been passionate about anything. He never thought of anything like that. He also found it even weirder because Kuroo was genuinely better than all the other kids. He could hit the ball harder. He could jump higher. He was faster on his feet to receive the ball.

“But you’re better than all the others?” Was all that Kenma could think, which why he said it. What he didn’t expect to see was the boy with unruly hair, which he also didn’t understand at the time, turn his head up to look at him.

“What?” Kuroo asked with the most shocked expression on his face.

“You’re better than all the others. Even if they got better they still wouldn’t be up to your skill level.” Kenma muttered as more tears started to form in Kuroo’s eyes before he jumped at Kenma and hugged him. Kenma felt himself stiffen because something that he had learned about Kuroo was that he liked to hug, but it didn’t really bother him. If he let himself admit it, he’d probably be able to say he enjoyed hugging Kuroo.

“Kenma, that’s so nice!” Kenma felt himself flinch when Kuroo shouted, even though he slowly felt his body release its tension.

“No, it’s obvious.”

“Still, I’ve never had anybody say that to me.” Kuroo whined as he hugged Kenma even harder, to which the younger just put a hand on the others back. He has seen it in a film where the scenario was kind of similar, so he thought it would work. Thinking back about it though, in the film someone had died and he was pretty sure there was no death going on in his current situation. He felt himself tense once more as he realized maybe putting his hand on Kuroo’s back wasn’t the right thing to do.

Little did he know this was not the last time he would comfort Kuroo and vice versa.

\-----

“You know I don’t think I ever told you thank you for that one. I mean, for being there.” Kuroo leans towards Kenma, bumping shoulders with a half grin on his face.

“Well I mean it was true. It’s like you’re constantly leveling up.” Kenma can feel a small smile grow on his face thinking of how hard Kuroo has constantly worked. Not only did he work hard but his previous captain made sure to take good care of his friends.

He looks over when he hears the bed headed boy whine his name, watching as his face slowly becomes red. After all, Kuroo was very easy to make flustered.

“Also, it’s not like you haven’t done anything for me.” He mumbles, eyes gazing to the ground.

“The first year thing?” Kuroo asks, eyebrows growing together. Kenma shakes his head as he thinks about the past. It doesn’t bother him now so he never thought to bring it up. Even if Kuroo knows pretty much every event in his life, this one just went unbothered after so long.

“I don’t think I ever told you.”

“Stop being cryptic and tell me!” The other says while playfully swatting at his shoulder. Kenma looks up to see him staring right back, eyebrows still together but a soft smile on his face.

“The first year thing was troublesome but the worst of it was my last year of middle school.”

“Wait… What had happened that year?” Kuroo has concern fully painted on his face, looking like he was on the verge to go tell someone off even though he don’t know:

a) Who he is telling off.

b) What the other did.

c) The first two points don’t matter to Kuroo because nobody messes with Kenma

“I got picked on pretty bad that year.”

\-----

“Hey, why are you always so quiet?”

“You’re so weird.”

“How can a kid like you even be good at a sport?”

“The kid is no one without the taller guy that used to loom around him”

It was a few months in the new year and Kenma has felt like he has heard it all. Kuroo has left off to high school and he was left alone for the second time in school since they were friends. Last time wasn’t that bad, but this just seemed to be miserable. It wasn’t like it was the first time he got picked on. He pretty much got used to it as time went on from when he started school.

He never wanted to bother Kuroo about it because the other seemed to be adjusting to high school pretty well. Kuroo has made sure to update him about every single thing that has happened since his experience had started, from joining the volleyball team to fighting with this short guy. Though, Kenma doesn’t think he wouldn’t call it a fight because from his understanding it sounds like the two just like to get on each other’s nerves rather than hate each other.

So, Kenma dealt with all of the people’s words. At first he didn’t even try to stand up for himself, but over time he noticed that his voice seemed to get louder and more irritated if he did respond. He never liked to exert energy for the nonsense, but the first time it happened this random kid walked up to his desk in the morning, leaning both arms on it and tried to tower over Kenma.

“Why are you so quiet? Are you scared?” The kid smirks as if he is going to win a medal for his comment. In Kenma’s opinion, it was a boring insult. Unoriginal. If the kid was going to try to mess with him, at least seem to try. Though, Kenma felt a sly feeling creep up his body as he looks up from his game to the other kid. Not a common thing he has ever felt, but over the last few months the feeling seems to keep reoccurring. 

“Why do you care? Does it bother you?” Kenma blurts it out before he could even think. The kids blinks at him in surprise as Kenma’s own heart starts racing because he doesn’t like social confrontation, and he especially doesn’t like being the one to start it. The other opens his mouth as if he was going to make another remark, but instead just turns around to go sit at the other desks. Kenma sat there, bringing his eyes back down to his game, slightly satisfied and mortified with himself at the same time.

The next time he hung out with Kuroo, Kenma thought whether or not to bring it up. But when he looked over to Kuroo to see him animatedly talking about something that happened in his science class earlier, he realized this is all he needs to keep him to be okay. Kuroo has been there for him this time, and he has always been there for Kuroo. He watched as Kuroo hung his head back, belting out that awful but amazing laugh, as he recalled something funny.

Kenma couldn’t help but just stare at Kuroo with a small smile on his face, content overflowing him as his body got a little bit warmer. _Everything always gets better when Kuro is around._

Maybe, just this time he thinks that he could control the situation. Kuroo has already done so much for him. As long as he doesn’t have to put much effort into it, he doesn’t care. It’s not like anybody bothered enough to make it physical and the people that did? Kenma would simply just avoid them.

It happened a few more times until answering makes his heart race a little less, without it feeling like his heart is being completely squeezed away from its oxygen. To not feel the need to sit in a tiny ball on his bed, rethinking _every_ single little thing that he has spoken within the day. Now, it’s not like it completely went away, it was still very much there, but Kenma liked to think of it as leveling up from his previous stage.

It was more in the middle of the year when a kid walked right into Kenma, making him stumble back a few steps. He realized the boy that walked into him was a second year and that didn’t stop this kid from being an asshole to anybody disregarding what year they were in. Last year when Kuroo was still at the school, this same kid would even give Kuroo a hard time.

“Watch where you’re going.” The kid snarls and Kenma so badly wants to say that ‘ _You’re the one that ran into me_ ’ but it feels like a block got stuck in his throat, refusing for him to speak. The kid laughs as he watches Kenma just stare at him.

“Wow, you really are nobody without that other guy that you followed around last year.”

“Last time I checked I have my own name so I must be somebody.” Kenma feels his heart sink after he spoke. He has never been happier that he has learned to keep a deadpanned face through anything, because if he didn’t, his expression would be showing true fear right now. He also wanted to stand up for Kuroo too, but he knew if he said anything else things would probably go down.

The kid looks at him, mouth starting to snarl as he moved forward but one of his friends pushes his shoulder to move him away, muttering ‘ _Come on, it isn’t worth it._ ’ Kenma visibly let out a sigh that he didn’t know he was even holding. Now that? That is one of the kids that he did not want to bother with. The kid was troublesome and was known to try to pick actual fights if provoked and Kenma knows he does not have the energy to withhold in a fight.

As the year finished, nothing drastic happened. Kenma never told Kuroo what was going on, as it also slowly become even more and more irrelevant. Now he was more focused on how he was going to get money for video games and finals and entrance exams. Before he knew it, he finished his last year of middle school and started his first year at Nekoma, where he was immediately greeted with pushy and controlling volleyball third years.

This was different from how he got picked on last year. Kenma has never been one for manners, but with the high schools _“hierarchy”_ the third years did have control over him. He did not feel like going against it to somehow have it turned right back onto him. It’s not like the third years were keeping it a secret either, which is why Kenma had no issue bringing it up to Kuroo. Who which, gave him advice and told him he will become captain next year to make everything better.

That’s the only reason Kenma played volleyball throughout the rest of his high school career. He knew he would never be truly alone. He would never be alone when Kuroo was around. This was also the time that Kenma realized he had a big, strong, fat crush on his best friend.

_Shit._

_\-----_

“Why did you never tell me about that!” Kuroo screeched when Kenma finished talking about one of the memories that he had honestly forgotten about until thinking upon it.

“It didn’t seem serious-“ He was cut off by Kuroo looking offended.

“Of course it was serious! I could go back and bop each one of them in heads. Actually, I don’t even need to. I was wondering when you suddenly turned into a badass.” Kenma furrows his eyebrows at him when he finishes talking, the dark haired man flailing his arms everywhere. _Some things really don’t change._

“I am getting to firsthand date one of the coolest people to ever exist”

“Well I hope it’d be firsthand” Kenma replies as Kuroo slings an arm around his shoulder, smiling as he brings their lips together. It was just a gentle brush of the lips, something soft, but Kuroo somehow poured every bit of emotion out with everything he does.

“Believe me it is.” Kuroo says as he pulls away, slinging his other arm around to wrap Kenma into a hug, bringing them down to lay onto the court floor. Kenma just lets his head rest on the upper half on Kuroo’s chest. “You know I would have dropped everything to help you though if you asked. I would’ve walked out of my class and went right into the middle school just to pluck some of those asses. I mean I would do anything for the love of my life.”

“You are so cheesy.” Kenma can feel the rumble of Kuroo’s chest as he laughs. He can’t help but think about how lucky he is. They got together in his third year of high school, so they’ve only been together officially for a little over a year. When thinking about it, it feels so much longer to Kenma. He feels like he’s loved Kuroo forever. Honestly, it probably is because he has.

\-----

It was only a month until Kuroo graduated high school. One month. Kuroo would leave Kenma once again, but it was also okay, because Kenma got to watch Kuroo evolve into this amazing person and has watched him work hard and fight for what he wants. Now he gets to move on to another chapter of his life, and Kenma can’t wait to see what Kuroo makes of it.

Though, it would be easier if he wasn’t hopelessly in love with his best friend. Kenma has came to accept it over the years, watching from a far. Feeling his heart physically ache when looking at Kuroo because it hurts so much to restrain himself. Kenma’s not a very affectionate person, but with Kuroo, he wants to always be around him, to kiss him, to fall asleep with him at night.

He wants to be there when Kuroo makes those life long lasting memories that make him warm to think about. He wants to see Kuroo grow into the best possible person he could be. He just wants to see Kuroo happy. However, his wants can’t get in the way over his friendship. He is well aware that Kuroo does not like him, it just wasn’t possible. Life doesn’t work out like that.

He would much rather choose keeping his ten year friendship over ruining it by not being able to keep his feelings in check.

Which puts Kenma here. It was the last practice that they would _ever_ have together. Kuroo just gave his last official speech for the team, and they were all sobbing, snotty messes while they exclaim how much they’re going to miss each other. Kenma’s sitting down on the bench watching all of it go down, trying to not let his own tears falls from his eyes.

He’s watching Kuroo try to give advice to Lev, who is nodding his head at every word with tears running down his face, and Yaku standing around putting in comments when needed to make sure that Lev stays in check. Kenma looks closely at Kuroo, noticing the sad small smile on his face showing that he is trying not to burst out into tears right at this exact moment.

“Are you ever going to tell him?” Yamamato says while sitting next to him on the bench.

“Tell who what?” Kenma asks even though he knows exactly what Tora is talking about. It’s not the first time the blonde mohawked boy has brought it up. Tora noticed it all the way back in there first year but to Kenma’s surprise, the other did not pester Kenma about it. Instead, he accepted the fact that Kenma didn’t want to tell Kuroo out of fear, and he was not trying to force something onto his friend. However, he did want to see Kenma happy.

“I’m not telling you to do it, but I’d encourage you to say something. I mean, it’s Kuroo. Even in the worst case scenario, Kuroo doesn’t accept your feelings but he will _never_ leave you.”

“That’s weirdly intelligent of you.” Kenma knows that Tora in reality, is right. He knows that Kuroo would never leave him but that wouldn’t make the rejection any less painful. He looks up to see Kuroo and Kai talking to each other, seeming to be in a serious conversation. Kuroo is about to leave to a university that is a couple hours away. No more coming to each other’s houses after school, no more volleyball together, no more video games together…

Even though Kuroo has already promised Kenma that he will come down on weekends whenever he can and that he will absolutely be there on holidays, it doesn’t change the fact that everything is about to permanently change.

“Of course it was, what do you take me for? An idiot?” Tora stands up before Kenma can even answer and runs a hand over his hair, giving a wave to the setter before turning around to group up with some of the other team members. Kenma slightly flinches when he feels his bag brushing his leg as it gets picked up, looking to see Kuroo signaling it’s time to leave.

Kenma takes his bag from Kuroo, both walking out of the gym silently. Kuroo normally fills in the silence but he seems to be deep in thought. Kenma grabs his PSP out of his bag and continues the game where he last saved it at. Though, he dies multiple times because he just can’t stop thinking about Kuroo is leaving. He knows they still have one more month together but he doesn’t want things to change.

He never thought he would say this but he wants high school to last forever. Just because that would mean Kuroo would always be there being his captain, his teammate, his best friend. He is terrified that they will drift apart when Kuroo leaves because he knows how time consuming university will be. It’s not like Kuroo will have that much free time too being on the volleyball team and doing a mentally strenuous major.

Kenma thinks about what would happen if he were to confess. Would these last few months be spent hugging, cuddling, holding hands? The smaller boy feels stupid just thinking about it but he’s never had a drive to do anything with another person before. What would it be like to kiss Kuroo? Kenma shakes the idea out of his head as he looks up from his game to look at Kuroo, who seems to still be deep in thought, not having said a single word since they left the gym.

Kuroo moves his head to notice his surroundings, settling his gaze on something and not looking away. Kenma looks to see that the older boy is looking at a big patch of grass, brick walls lining it. He realizes it’s where they first played volleyball together, years ago. Kuroo moves to go stand at the edge of the small field, Kenma following close behind him.

They’re standing there in silence when Kenma realizes this is the perfect place to tell Kuroo everything. After going through a whole mental battle in his head, Kenma puts his PSP back into bag because at the end of the day, Kuroo will still be there. He sees the other send him a quick glance as he zips his bag shut before looking back at the grass. They both stand there in silence while Kenma tries to prepare himself to just say anything.

“How do you feel?” Kenma cringes at himself because out of everything he could say, he asks that.

“I’m sad.” Kuroo’s quick to answer, eyes still focused off in the distance. “I almost don’t want to leave. Saying goodbye to the team will definitely be the second hardest thing to ever say goodbye to. Those guys have turned into a family overtime and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more secure anywhere else.”

Kenma felt his heart sink because he knows how much the team means to Kuroo. He really did love each and everyone on it and tried to help in every single way he could. He’s thinking over what Kuroo said until he realizes, “What’s the first thing?” The taller boy sends him another quick glance before turning to face him but keeping his eyes on the ground and putting his hands in his pockets. Kuroo opens his mouth but he stutters before he could speak.

“I need to tell you something.” Kenma raises his eyebrow at the other because he sounds completely serious. “I don’t really know how to phrase this without blurting it out a-and I’m also scared because I’ve known you so long-“

_No way._

“and I don’t want to mess everything else because I adore you and saying goodbye to you will be the hardest thing possible to do and I guess what I-I’m trying to say is,”

_This is sounding a lot like…_

“I love you.”

Kenma doesn’t know what feeling he is currently flooding him. All these years of trying to repress his feelings for his best friend and they’re reciprocated, and everything just changed so fast. He doesn’t know whether he wants to scream, cry, or both. Kuroo finally looks up to meet his eyes, eyes widening when there is no expression shown on Kenma’s face. His eyes dart around on everything else in front of him, shifting on his feet in the process, before landing on Kenma’s again, who still hasn’t said anything or even moved.

“Kenma can you please say something because I seriously can’t tell what you are feeling right now-“

“I love you too.”

Kenma didn’t even now it was possible for someone’s eyes to widen as much as Kuroo’s did. He watched as the other boy opened his mouth in shock, letting out an inaudible noise, before jumping back on his feet, “Are you serious!?”

“Yes, I am.” The setter can feel the smile on his face grow and he is watching the other visibly process the information, still hopping on his feet. He feels like he is slapped in the face when the bed headed boy looks at him with the biggest smile that is just radiating pure happiness. Kuroo takes a step forward and wraps his arms tight around Kenma, and if Kenma could describe what he felt in that moment as he snaked his arms around Kuroo’s waste, it would be safe.

\-----

“You love me.” Kuroo says, fingers moving to brush through Kenma’s hair.

“You’re right.” Kenma moves to wrap his arms around Kuroo even though they are still laying on the court, trying to snuggle into the man as much as he could. One thing that has never changed is how much Kenma loves to hug Kuroo. It was one of the best things that could ever exist and as time has gone on, he has appreciated it more and more. But even better than hugging? Kissing Kuroo. Or maybe Kuroo in general was his favorite. Kuroo was like a drug that Kenma just couldn’t get enough of, and he hoped that he never would.

_All I wanted to do was watch you grow to become the best person you could become, and for you to be_ _happy, and along the way, I found happiness as well._

**Author's Note:**

> no brain just kuroken
> 
> I made some changes because i can't get the thought out of my head of kuroo and atsumu interacting so theyre on the same team
> 
> follow my twt to see me scream and draw over hq and possibly make more head canons and stories [exholix](https://twitter.com/exholix)
> 
> anyways, if you made it this far, i hope you enjoyed it


End file.
